


Time is an Illusion

by sparxwrites



Category: Sunless Server - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Sleepiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparxwrites/pseuds/sparxwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foli refuses to sleep, and Rayse is deeply concerned for the safety of the merc camp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time is an Illusion

**Author's Note:**

> i couldn’t write so i wrote something instead?? which makes no sense, but there u go. shrugs shrugs. the adventures of sparx writing friendfic continues...

“When’s the last time you slept? Foli? Hello? Foli, when was the last time you- _Foli_! When was the last time you slept!”

Finally, the words penetrated through the thick fog of concentration surrounding Foli, and he slowly raised his eyes from the arcane workbench and the dozen or so scrolls covering it, their surfaces covered in tight, scrawled writing. “Oh, hey Rayse,” he said, absently, scrubbing a hand stained orange-red from essence across blurry eyes. “S’up?”

Rayse sighed, fluffing their feathers up in despair and shifting from foot to foot on the perch Foli had set up a few weeks back just inside the entrance to their tent. “I’ve been here for five minutes,” they pointed out, and Foli at least had the decency to look faintly ashamed of himself. “I _said_ , when was the last time you slept?”

Waving a dismissive hand in Rayse’s direction, Foli shuffled through the pile of loosely-curled scrolls with the other, finally finding the one he wanted and lifting it practically to his nose. Between hazy vision and the poor handwriting, the letters seem to be practically swimming. “I mean… time is relative, technically an illusion, probably doesn’t exist- it’s just something people use to comfort themselves, you know, and it’s so _malleable_ , there’s no _way_ it’s a universal constant-”

“Foli,” interrupted Rayse, softly but firmly, aware that the babble practically dripping from Foli’s lips was not the sign of someone well-rested. “Number of hours, please. An actual number.” As fond as they were of their fellow band member, he required an exasperating amount of handling.

Humming softly, Foli lowered the scroll and glanced up at the ceiling of the tent, debating whether to lie or not. “Uh…” he started, glanced sideways at the set of Rasye’s beak, and the darker, fluffier feathers above their eyes he always thought of as their eyebrows, and thought better of it. “What… what day are we on again?”

For a moment, there was silence – and then Rayse lowered their head and made a low, whistling noise of despair. “You should sleep,” they said, before flapping their arms for emphasis when Foli just nodded without making any move towards preparing for sleep. “Bed! Bed, now, you need to sleep!”

“Yeah, yeah, ok,” agreed Foli, noncommittally, lifting the scroll to just in front of his nose again and struggling to read the spidery script there. “Just- let me finish this one thing…”

“ _No_ ,” snapped Rayse, firmly, talons clenching around the perch with a screech of claw on metal. “Now, Foli.” He was enough of a danger to himself, and the rest of the camp, wide awake, let alone so tired he was swaying and unable to read.

When they got no response, they huffed, reluctantly spreading their wings. A careful downbeat and a glide later, they were perched on Foli’s shoulder – and then very nearly thrown off when they clamped a beak down on his earlobe hard enough to make him jump, dropping the scroll and yelping with the high, whining tone of a dog. “Enough! Bed! Or I will fetch Lying and he’ll confiscate your thaumaturgy things!”

Foli froze, fingers gingerly rubbing at his reddened ear, and then turned to look at Rasye as a slow grin spread across his face. “You know,” he said, conversationally, crouching down slowly so as not to destabilise them and retrieving the scroll, “I think that’s the fiercest I’ve ever seen you, little bird.”

Feathers fluffing to alarming volume, Rayse half-tucked their head under their wing as their sudden fit of bravery left them. “I’m- you’ll hurt yourself!” they managed, defensively, hopping up atop Foli’s head so they didn’t have to see his wide, amused grin. “And the rest of the camp. I don’t want my tent on fire, that took me a long time to put up.”

“Fair enough,” agreed Foli, words tinged with amusement and trailing off into a wide yawn. They set the scroll down carelessly atop the existing pile, the whole lot shifting precariously under the added weight but thankfully not falling. “Although I’m wounded you think I’d set your tent on fire.”

“Maybe not deliberately, but…” Rayse trailed off with a sigh, launching themself off Foli’s head and gliding back over to the perch, leaving him rubbing his scalp where their claws had dug in slightly through his hair. “Sleep!”

Yawning again, Foli stretched, eyes shut and mouth open. “I’m sleeping, I’m sleeping,” he promised, opening one eye to pick his way carefully round the infusion altar that dominated their tent, hopping from pedestal to pedestal and swaying every time he paused. “Look, I’m even heading over to my bed and everything.”

He paused at the foot of his bed just long enough to drag his shirt off over his head and dump it on the floor, before collapsing back against the mattress, legs dangling over the edge. “You gonna just... watch me sleep?” he asked, tilting his head to one side to squint at where Rayse was still sat on their perch, talons curled around the grip.

“Only until I’m sure you’re not going to sneak off and do more thaumaturgy,” they replied, shifting a little, rolling their shoulders to settle their wings more comfortably. “I take the safety of my tent very seriously.” The words were only half-joking. They’d seen the damage Foli did to his own clothing and skin on a near-daily basis, and weren’t willing to take chances with the rest of the camp.

Huffing out something between a groan and a sigh, Foli’s eyes drifted closed. “Sorta… creepy, I guess,” he mumbled, nose wrinkling, the tension seeping out the rest of his body in a slow wave of relaxation. “Not that I mind… just... watchin’ people… when they’re…”

His words trailed off in a slow exhale, face going slack with his mouth half open – asleep and snoring faintly before Rayse had time to find the words for a retort.


End file.
